By the Sea
by Scape Goat
Summary: There are certain things that one shouldn't overlook. Sideswipe x Beachcomber


**Author's Note: **This was written for the LJ TF rare pairing fic exchange community.

* * *

**By the Sea**

There were several various explanations that one could attach to an individual with a penchant for casual trickery. It could've been a cry for attention, or a misplaced attempt at much needed levity. In Sideswipe's case, however, it was none of these things that led to his tendencies as the resident prankster. What led to those specific events was that the Lamborghini was, quite honestly and genuinely, bored out of his mind.

Once this idea caught on among his comrades, Sideswipe suddenly found himself placed on as many missions as possible. Not that he minded at all, even the most insignificant of tasks were better than sitting around on his aft with nothing to do. He appreciated the more important missions of course, but he tried not to complain about the ones that weren't and happily accepted them.

That was how he found himself paired with Beachcomber.

It had been three solar cycles since a seemingly average geology mission had led to a desperate battle for electrum. The mission had been temporarily forgotten by most of the Autobots in the excitement of the discovery and the chaos that followed - but eventually, Beachcomber spoke up with the request of finishing what they had started. Optimus was happy to indulge him, especially when Beachcomber tended to ask so little - but of the original team, only Seaspray remained available to accompany him at this point. With what had happened before, Prime was reasonably reluctant to let such an undermanned group out on an expedition. Beachcomber seemed ready to accept this when Sideswipe spoke up. He wasn't sure why he offered at first - but hey, even looking at a bunch of rocks had to be more entertaining than just wasting time around the Ark. Sideswipe reassured Prime that if he was on the beach with Beachcomber while Seaspray watched the water - that would be cover enough. Optimus seemed to accept this, and allowed the mission to go on.

Beachcomber had given him a surprised look that quickly became a small smile, which the Lamborghini cheerfully returned. There hadn't been many times where he had gotten the opportunity to work with Beachcomber so directly, and quite honestly, Sideswipe knew very little about the quiet 'bot. But, this was a good a time as any to get better acquainted.

While Seaspray used a shorter route via the water to scout ahead and check the area, Sideswipe and Beachcomber took to the roads. They decided on using the back roads for convenience's sake and to keep out of heavy traffic. They had driven in relative silence for a moment when Sideswipe found his mind wandering distantly with nothing to distract it. He then decided to try getting a rise out of the traditionally mellow mech driving in front of him. Increasing his speed, Sideswipe gained on Beachcomber enough to give his bumper a playful nudge. Beachcomber gave a confused sound, and Sideswipe chuckled.

"What do you say, Beachcomber?" Sideswipe called, moving forward to pass him. "Wanna race?"

Beachcomber made a thoughtful noise at that, but did made no move to pursue him. "Mm, what for?"

Sideswipe laughed. "'What for'? For fun! To see who's faster. C'mon, there's nobody around."

He wasn't exaggerating - the road was pretty much barren as far ahead as his optics could see. Sideswipe pulled back again to nudge his companion a second time, engine revving encouragingly. "Well? What's the harm?"

"No harm," conceded Beachcomber calmly. "But speeding around is a waste of scenery, wouldn't you say?"

Sideswipe sighed and chuckled again. He never quite understood Beachcomber's fixation with organic nature - but he supposed it was no more strange than Blaster's love for Earth's music or Bumblebee's fondness of humans. "I drive past this scenery all the time," Sideswipe replied.

"But do you pay attention to it?" asked Beachcomber. "I mean, _real_ attention."

Had he been able to in this form, Sideswipe would have frowned. Beachcomber was talking with that hazy tone of his that likely meant he was daydreaming about something. Sideswipe never paid it too much mind, all the science-types seemed to get lost in their own thoughts in one way or another.

"Would it matter? It's nothing that special," Sideswipe said - and it quite honestly wasn't. The area was in no way significantly more impressive than any other road he'd traveled on. Same terrain, same water, same plants along the edges. He could understand that Beachcomber enjoyed Earth's environment, but after so long, some of its novelty had to get old.

"Hm," Beachcomber hummed, subtly slowing a bit. "I guess not."

* * *

Of all the changes in terrain between Cybertron and Earth - Sideswipe would have to say he was quite fond of the large bodies of water. The beach was empty despite its appeal - apparently it was still just the slightest bit too cold for the humans to swim in and appreciate. Seaspray had no complaints, though. Sideswipe spotted him off in the distance, patrolling for any activity that seemed suspicious. Sideswipe raised a hand and waved in greeting, though he couldn't be sure if it was noticed.

Beachcomber was already back to resuming the work they had left unfinished. He called Sideswipe over as he knelt beside a fair sized boulder in the sand, hand resting on top of it restively.

"Is this what you guys found before?" Sideswipe asked curiously, moving to kneel beside his comrade. It certainly didn't look like anything special - no more different than the other rocks littered around the seaside.

Beachcomber made an affirmative sound that seemed to carry a tune to it. He instantly set to scanning it. Sideswipe was ready to return his gaze out towards the water when Beachcomber's visor caught his optics. It was reacting, black with flickering waves of color as it gathered and processed data. This change surprised Sideswipe somewhat, his head tilting to get a better look.

"Cool," he said, grinning up at him.

"Isn't it?" Beachcomber replied contently. "Nice specimen."

Sideswipe chuckled and shook his head. "I meant your visor. Not the rock."

Beachcomber looked up at that, the visor returning to its normal silver as the scanning ceased. "Hm?"

"It changes when you do your scans," Sideswipe explained simply. "I've never seen anyone else's do that. Jazz's never does."

"Mm, Jazz's is decoration," said Beachcomber. He raised a finger to tap against the visor almost absentmindedly.

"So it's a science thing," Sideswipe concluded, smirking slightly. "Should've figured. So, what's the diagnosis?"

Beachcomber shook his head and chuckled. "You don't have a diagnosis with geology."

"Eh, science stuff." The Lamborghini waved his hand dismissively. "You know what I meant."

Beachcomber rearranged himself a bit, fingertips tapping on the boulder experimentally. "Not much more than what Perceptor found before," he continued. "Well, not yet. We never really got past finding the gold and silver."

Sideswipe's head perked up. "Gold and silver? In this?" He looked over the rock again, skeptically. "I wouldn't have thought it was anything special."

"Because you wouldn't have paid attention," replied Beachcomber smoothly. "You didn't think the scenery was anything special either."

Sideswipe stilled for a moment, not quite sure how to respond. Beachcomber had already returned to scanning the rock again, visor flickering and a small smile growing on the corners of his lips. Sideswipe's mouth parted, ready for some kind of retort - when Seaspray's transmission interrupted him.

"_Sideswipe, Beachcomber - Decepticons incoming!_"

The warning was a little late in coming, for the instant Sideswipe's optics lifted, what met his gaze was a hail of gunfire. Seekers - Starscream and Skywarp. Normally, that development would've been a curse or sound of dismay - but Sideswipe had to restrain a cheer. It had been too long since he'd seen decent action, and the idea only excited him. He dived out of way, rolling onto his back with his pistol raised and ready. Seekers had a bad habit of opening fire before they were close enough for a decent shot - so really, they did little more than give their position away. Sideswipe narrowed his optics and took aim. Once they were within range...

His finger paused on the trigger. Skywarp was already falling, smoke billowing off his wing from a direct hit. The jet careened into his partner with a distressed yelp, sending them crashing into the water below.

Sideswipe's head turned slowly. Beachcomber was lowering his rifle, visor fading back to silver. His gaze met Sideswipe's, then dropped back to the ground, a frown tightly set around his lips.

* * *

"All in one piece, Seaspray?" Sideswipe grinned as the naval tactician transformed and stepped on shore.

"Singed, but all right," Seaspray assured, stepping up to met him. "Thundercracker and Blitzwing were hanging back - but it looks like they decided to just take the others and head back to base." Seaspray paused for a bit before continuing. "That was a nice shot you got there."

Sideswipe shook his head from side to side quickly. "Nah, that wasn't me - you're looking at the wrong mech." Sideswipe jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in Beachcomber's direction.

Seaspray's optics widened. "That was Beachcomber?" He leaned a bit in attempt to glance past Sideswipe to where Beachcomber was standing.

"Not a word of lie," said Sideswipe."It shocked me too. I've never seen him shoot like _that_ before."

Seaspray shrugged. "Lucky shot, maybe? We all get them."

"Yeah," agreed Sideswipe, though he wasn't totally convinced. He kept thinking about the look on Beachcomber's face, and the color of his visor. "Maybe."

* * *

Seaspray had returned to patrolling the water when Sideswipe approached Beachcomber. The geologist was finishing his work, chipping off a sample of the rock and setting it aside. The attack seemed to have made him a bit distracted, he wasn't humming or smiling the way he was before. Sideswipe frowned at bit at that. It was too unnatural to see Beachcomber so disheartened. So, the Lamborghini did what he always did in these sorts of situations: tried a bit of levity.

"Hey, BC!" he called, stepping closer. "Wanna try a game?"

Beachcomber looked up as Sideswipe began building himself a pile of stones. He hummed distantly, uncertainly. "What sort of 'game'?"

"Target practice - but more fun," replied Sideswipe happily.

Beachcomber made a sound, looking more uncertain. "I have to shoot those?"

"I promise these are ordinary rocks, mister geologist," Sideswipe assured him, smirking slightly. "Besides, after that display back there, I'm curious to see what you can do."

"I don't know," repeated Beachcomber uncomfortably.

"First no race, then no game?" Sideswipe pulled an exaggerated frown, tossing a stone in his palm encouragingly. "C'mon, BC, just a few."

"Mm, where'd you come up with that?"

"Sunny and I do targets like this all the time-" Sideswipe began, but Beachcomber shook his head and cut him off.

"Not that - I meant what you were calling me," he said, a little quieter this time.

Sideswipe offered him a shrug. "Just a nickname for short, I guess." He paused for a moment. "I'll call you 'Beachcomber' if you don't like it."

"Mm, no," said Beachcomber quickly. "I like it."

Sideswipe grinned, Beachcomber returned it. "So." Sideswipe's hand raised, tossing the rocks again. "Targets?"

"If it's what you want," replied Beachcomber.

* * *

The first rounds went on without much eventfulness. Sideswipe would distance himself, then toss a stone as high as he could for Beachcomber to fire at. It wasn't as simple as one would think, as Sideswipe's arm was pretty strong and the stones were small targets. The challenge was decent - but not impossible to achieve.

Besides, Sideswipe wanted to see if it really was a lucky hit earlier or not.

Compared to Sideswipe's usual games with Sunstreaker - Beachcomber wasn't faring all too well. Sideswipe did remind himself that Beachcomber didn't train as much as he and his twin. But still, Sideswipe found himself getting the smallest bit bored when he didn't have any good hits to cheer - especially when he _knew_ Beachcomber should be able to do this. The pile of rocks was finished before Beachcomber could land a hit one of them like he had on Skywarp.

"Hey, Beachcomber," began Sideswipe as a moved to gather the stones again, finally decided to bring the subject to light. "Why don't you use your visor?"

Beachcomber looked a bit uneasy. "My visor?"

"C'mon, I know it's what helped before," said Sideswipe sternly. "You hit Skywarp before I could even see him clearly. Why don't you always do that?"

A small sound escaped Beachcomber, his feet shifting in the sand. "It was an accident," he admitted, his gaze low. "I was still scanning when the warning startled me and..."

Sideswipe suddenly realized the fault in his judgment, watching Beachcomber's mood sink. Of course _he_ would see no problem in having such an ability - he and his brother alike always loved having the best methods they could in battle. But Beachcomber... Beachcomber didn't support the war. He fought with the Autobots - and very loyally, but it wasn't in his beliefs to do so.

Sideswipe remained silent as Beachcomber seemed to struggle for his words. "It's not supposed to be used that way," said Beachcomber quietly. "It's for science - not battle."

Slowly, Sideswipe's hand reached out to rest on Beachcomber's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. He off-lined a single optic, a small smile appearing on his features.

"I won't tell anybody."

Beachcomber's head perked up at that. "You won't?"

Nodding, Sideswipe continued. "If that's what you want."

"But Seaspray-"

"Thinks it was a lucky shot," finished Sideswipe. "Slag, I'd be happy to boast that it was _my_ shot if I hadn't already told him it was you."

Beachcomber smiled, raising his own hand to move Sideswipe's from his shoulder and hold it warmly. "Thank you."

Sideswipe smiled back, slowly getting to his feet. "Suppose we should go back, huh?" he sighed. "We've been done for a while now."

"Hm, I guess so," Beachcomber replied.

The sun was already setting, and he doubted anyone would believe a simple geology mission would have taken this long if they decided to hang around for much longer. Sending Seaspray a short transmission to say it was time to head back to base, Sideswipe turned and began to walk back through the path they'd came. He kept his grip on Beachcomber's hand, contently keeping at his side.

"Uhm, you don't wanna transform?" Beachcomber asked, allowing himself to be pulled along by his hand.

"That'd be faster, yeah," agreed Sideswipe, giving Beachcomber a grin. "But, I'd rather take a walk and admire the scenery, wouldn't you?"

Beachcomber stilled for a moment, then smiled broadly. "Yeah, I'd like that too."


End file.
